New Book: Dick Stroud's The 50-Plus Market

Dick Stroud's new book The 50-Plus Market is getting rousing reviews. No doubt Kogan Page is thrilled:

"A thoughtful, well-researched and thorough exploration of the 50 plus market. Every marketer should read this book." — John Pickett, Head of Market & Media Research, Saga

It was an honor for me to make a small contribution between the covers.

Word is out that in December The 50-Plus Market will be available on this side of the pond.

Boomer Century

Here's a pretty good cover story from American Heritage by Joshua Zeitz.

We'll be seeing a lot of Baby Boomers media coverage in January. That's when (technically) the first ones start turning sixty.

I'm champing at the bit, waiting for this one by Leonard Steinhorn.






October 30th addendum: Read Brent Green's review of The Greater Generation

GeezerJock

I'm no Geezer Jock. A bit of golf and hour-long bike rides on a very flat trail three or four times a week is about it for me. I am thinking of taking up tennis again after a ten-year layoff—but doubles only. Or I'd die.

Even without yours truly joining their huffing and puffing ranks, there are a lot of Geezer Jocks. Millions. And a magazine for them:

Our mission is to cover the new and active way of growing old in America. No longer are people settling for shuffleboard. Or mall walking. Or deep knee bends. They are running track, playing baseball - yes, hardball! - and even surfing well into their 60s and beyond. In print and online, GeezerJock celebrates the regenerative power of sports, activity and competition.

Certainly GeezerJock is something media planners and buyers should be running after. It's a perfect target market for just about any product or service.

Related: An inspirational documentary not about penguins.

Update Dec 22, '05: Read this piece about GeezerJock by Lisa Granatstein in MEDIAWEEK.

AARP & Home Depot Offer Free Workshops for Boomers

AARP and Home Depot have put together a few free home-improvement workshops for Baby Boomers. (They're scheduled for October 11th, so I don't know how long the info will be on the page.)

It's a good idea, and good marketing. HGTV is a big hit with 50+ folks (although you'd never know it if you watched.)

Even I've been doing some home-improving. Although banished from a recent 'insta-floor' laying, a paint roller was slapped into my hands for some ceiling and wall work. After the project was finished, I really didn't feel any sort of 'sense of accomplishment' - but what I did get out of it was a great Jackson Pollocky shirt I wear whenever I go to a hardware store or art museum. It commands respect.

The web page for AARP/Home Depot is a bit insipid - at least the flash presentation is. Three rotating pictures: one of a couple holding paint brushes (good - but their shirts don't look anything like mine), one of a couple goofing around with a garden hose, and one of a lady changing a light bulb - her husband cheerfully holding the ladder.

If there were five or six rotating pics, the garden hose one would be fine. But since it's one of only three, it doesn't work. And the light bulb one, of course, reminds me of that old joke, "How many Baby Boomers does it take…?"

I guess Home Depot and AARP think Baby Boomers need to take a course on how to change a light bulb. Or maybe the course is about how to hold a ladder.

I bet their ad agency could've come up with more realistic (and less demeaning) scenarios.

Baby Boomers Don't Have Important Sex

Jennifer Hunter of the Chicago Sun Times cracked me up today. Apparently, Baby Boomers don't have sex anymore — and if they do, nobody really cares:

Does the CDC think that once it sags it flags? That no one over 44 can rise to the occasion? That sex is not a daily (or weekly) part of our lives? That was what my kids used to think, that my husband and I only had sex twice and it resulted in child one and child two. It was too icky to think of "old" people flapping about shamelessly in the sheets.

I guess the CDC and children aren't much different than most advertising agencies. The idea of considering us (except for the obvious age-related products and services) is too 'icky' to think about.

Well, I won't upset any kids or account execs with graphic details — but the CDC, you might want to know about this: Older Daters Looking For Mates Online (Associated Press)